Tage Thompson scored for the fifth straight game with his 44th goal of the season, and Alex Tuch and JJ Peterka also scored for the Sabres (35-36-6), who are 8-1-0 in their past nine games.

The Sabres were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention when the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 15 saves for the Hurricanes (46-27-4), who failed to clinch home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Carolina has lost three straight.

The Hurricanes are second in the Metropolitan Division, seven points ahead of the New Jersey Devils

Thompson gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 1:32 of the second period. He stripped Jackson Blake of the puck inside the Sabres blue line and carried it to the right circle before beating Kochetkov blocker side.

Thompson has eight goals during his five-game goal streak, a career high.

Bowen Byram sprung Tuch for a breakaway, and Tuch put a wrist shot five-hole for his League-leading sixth short-handed goal of the season to make it 2-0 at 16:45.

Peterka pushed it to 3-0 when he buried a one-timer from the right hash mark off a pass from Jack Quinn at 1:58 of the third period.

Jordan Staal and Andrei Svechnikov returned for the Hurricanes. Staal, the Hurricanes captain, had missed four games because of a lower-body injury. Svechnikov had missed the previous two games because of an undisclosed injury.